Category Archives: Design

Did Someone Say Tangerine Tango?
/// Posted by

Spring is in the air, the flowers are blooming and the weather has turned from crisp and cool to a slight warm breeze — ahhh San Francisco. It’s also the time of year when thoughts of Pantone’s fall colors dance through every designer and artist’s head. Think of it like that unopened box of colored pencils on your desk just begging to be opened. A glimpse of this fall’s hottest colors brings inspiration and endless possibilities to our work.

This fall boasts versatile neutrals and bold, spirited hues that create a well-balanced palette. Retro colors like Tangerine Tango (the color of the year) and Pink Flambe bring a vivacious, flirty feel to visuals. Meanwhile, when paired together, Olympian Blue and French Roast offer sophistication and sensibility. Pantone’s fall color choices have something for everyone!

For a more in-depth look at this fall’s colors, check out Pantone/Fashion + Home

Which Came First—UX or UI?
/// Posted by

It’s a question that has plagued many designers and developers over time—I still find myself getting into heated debates over it. While it’s important for a website or app to look stellar, it’s equally important for it to function well and provide a seamless experience for the user.

We’ve all encountered poorly organized websites. You know the ones: you click on what you think is a button and nothing happens, all because someone decided it would be cool to use the same color as the active links elsewhere, leaving users lost over where they can click. Or there’s the dreaded app that requires ten touches or swipes to download a song or post a comment. While the UI may have been brilliantly designed, there was clearly a lack of UX planning behind the scenes.

So which did come first? For years we’ve been designing magazine-worthy user interfaces without a whisper of the letters UX. Often, user experience seems to be an afterthought—and it isn’t until countless emails from frustrated developers flood the inbox with 25 questions about what happens after x, y and z do we realize that hey, maybe we should have thought through the UX a little more carefully.

The moral of the story is: it really doesn’t matter which came first. There is no UI without a clearly planned UX—every interface needs to make sense and be aesthetically pleasing.

This feature presentation by Kai Brunner is a humorous look at the UX vs. UI conundrum.

The Mechanics of Creativity 


/// Posted by

Last week I caught an NPR feature on the new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. How to foster creativity and innovation in the workplace is a hot topic, and not just for creative agencies. Businesses across the board are seeing the value of employees who can solve problems in innovative ways.

According to Lehrer, a relaxed, safe and positive environment is key to promoting creativity. Almost as important is the ability to get distance from the problem or project at hand. For that reason, sitting at our desks for long stretches straining over a problem may not be the best way to find a solution. Most of us have probably gotten a great idea laying in bed half asleep, on a walk or in the shower. The common denominators? Distance from the project at hand and relaxation.

There is a scientific explanation for why distancing ourselves may help us solve problems. The paper Lessons from a Faraway land: The Effect of Spatial Distance on Creative Cognition asserts that we mentally construe objects that are psychologically near in low-level, detailed and contextualized ways; whereas at a distance we construe the same objects in high-level, abstract, and stable ways. Need an idea? 
Time for a walk or a shower.

Gaultier Exhibit Upcoming at San Francisco’s deYoung
/// Posted by

Those looking for inspiration this spring or summer should take in the dynamic multimedia exhibit The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, which will focus on the other-worldy creations of fashion’s “enfant terrible.” Despite never having receiving formal training as a designer, Gaultier’s decadent designs are known around the world for their creativity, outrageousness and their play on pop culture and traditional gender roles.

Running March 24 through August 19, the exhibition will include 140 haute couture and prêt-à-porter designs created between the 1970s and 2010. For the exhibition, Gaultier partnered with the Montreal theater company Ubu Compagnie de Création to design 30 animated mannequins.

Crazy for Pinterest

/// Posted by

The social media world is abuzz with the media wonder Pinterest, founded in 2008. It’s the latest and greatest in the social media realm — a visually-pleasing “virtual pinboard” of photos, videos, and comments on various topics of interest; organized by users like you and me. Being a visual person, my boards are filled with eye candy galore: branding, information graphics, beautiful packaging, fashion, mouthwatering foods, travel destinations and pretty much anything else that catches my designer eye. In the process of playing on our virtual pinboards, users are also generating buzz and increasing traffic for brands like Whole Foods and Etsy, just by linking our pins to their websites.
 
So why all the fuss? Traffic, traffic, traffic! Pinterest attracts more traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined. It’s growing like crazy and if you haven’t started using it, you should really consider asking for an invite. It could just help you or your company increase traffic — and potentially — business.

Global Pecha Kucha Week 2/20–2/26
/// Posted by





Just as open mic night is a chance for the urban poet to read aloud and twitter a window for the aspiring blogger to write, so is International Pecha Kucha Week an opportunity for creatives to show their work and network with like minds.

Next week, in 474 cities around the world, Pecha Kucha nights will commence utilizing the 20 x 20 presentation model — 20 images shown for 20 seconds each, to keep ideas and conversation moving. The event is a tradition devised in Tokyo in February of 2003 by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham Architecture. Their goal was to provide a venue in which young designers could meet, network and show their work publicly.

Job searchers, new converts, veteran designers—don’t miss your opportunity. Restrictions beget art. Interactivity is everything. Find your city and meet your kind.

Step Up With Stand-Out Apps
/// Posted by

It’s no secret how inundated mobile app stores have gotten — the App Store features about 500,000 apps and Android Market 300,000. So how do you get yours to stand out in front of consumers against all the rest?

A recent report by Distimo showed that featured apps receive increased revenue: 41% on the first day and 22% on the second for the App Store. In the Android marketplace, the numbers were 7% on the first day and 29% overall. The same study gauged what discounting an app can do for sales. Surprisingly, the report showed that it actually lowered revenue. Find out more here

So how do you get your app featured? Although you can apply for the honor, the best approach is just to make your app good. Make it pop, make sure it works well, create a compelling user experience, make the design incredible and plan your marketing in advance. In short, build it well and they will come.

A few elements that successful apps share are a recognizable name (often), a clear benefit or purpose, eye-catching design and a smart interface. They also work as promised. Hey, you stand out visually and conceptually, but it won’t get you anywhere if your product doesn’t work well.

A few words of advice about app marketing from the experts out there: plan ahead so you’re prepared when your app launches, promote via social media channels, have a website to back up your offering, and ensure your app is a recognizable part of your brand. Positive buzz, good reviews and sales or downloads are sure to follow.